Moscow will send a bid for the World Chess Championship match 2012 between Anand and Gelfand. This news came via the Russian Chess Federation, cited by Moskovski Novosti, and the rumor quickly spred through the local media. The last world championships organized in Moscow were the 1985 match between Kasparov and Karpov, and the 2002 knockout World Championship won by Ponomariov.

The information about Moscow has been confirmed by Ilya Levitov according to the Russian media. Berik Balgabaev countered, “Yes, indeed there is interest from Moscow, but who has submitted a bid I will tell when I have the right to. For now I can only say that the information did not come initially from us and I cannot confirm it, but let me note that there is high interest from India and Israel also.”

Update: Ilya Levitov confirmed that the bid to host the World Chess Championship 2012 in Moscow has been sent to FIDE. The offer is 2 million USD worth, matching the prize fund provided by the Bulgarian government for the match Anand-Topalov.

The newspaper “Kommersant” notes that the bid comes shortly after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev instructed the government and Russian Olympic Committee to continue on bringing the biggest sports event to the country. A small reminder that the 2014 Winter Olympic Games will be held in the Russian Black Sea resort city of Sochi, and the 2018 FIFA World Cup will also take place in Russia.

According to Kommersant columnist Alexey Dospehov, the challenger Boris Gelfand welcomed the bid and added that Moscow “is probably the best option.” On the question about possible bids from Israel, Gelfand said that there has been some interest but without concrete steps.

Several sources revealed that Andrey Filatov, co-owner of the “N-Trance” company and a devoted chess fan, is actually sponsoring the bid. Filatov is known for financing the restoration of Alexander Alekhine’s monument in Paris.